Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Number 10, 2004 16 17 Leafhoppers and Their Relatives (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha) from the Canadian Great Plains
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16 17 Aflexia rubranura is a specialist on prairie dropseed; Erythroneura carbonata is a specialist on sea- but despite being completely flightless it is found on milkwort, a primrose relative that carpets saline alvars on islands in Lake Huron as well as in eastern depressions. prairies from Manitoba to northern Illinois. Memnonia consobrina, found in arid grasslands in Memnonia consobrina western Canada, has subterranean nymphs. female Neohecalus magnificus, found in Canada only in the Neohecalus magnificus Red River valley and at Ojibway Prairie in Windsor, female Ontario, has very different males and females. Stirellus bicolor – in the United States this species has Stirellus bicolor two forms: in spring it is brown and in high summer (spring form) it is iridescent; but in Canada the two forms may be taken together. Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Number 10, 2004 16 17 Leafhoppers and their relatives (Homoptera, Auchenorrhyncha) from the Canadian Great Plains K.G. Andrew Hamilton Biodiversity, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, CEF Ottawa Ont. K1A 0C6, [email protected] The Canadian Great Plains are often referred to as “prairies”. This term is French for “meadows” and properly describes only the eastern plains grass- lands, particularly those around the southern end of Lake Manitoba or “Lac des Prairies.” There, prairie grasses are lush even in the driest part of the sum- mer, yet seldom if ever attain the height of “tall- grass” prairies farther south. The Auchenorrhyncha fauna or “short-horned bugs” of this region of Aphelonema simplex (Caliscelidae) is one of the most Manitoba is unique (Hamilton 1999). Just how common and distinctive bugs of the Canadian plains, unique, and how extensive this fauna is, has nev- the male being bright orange, and the head unusually er been elucidated. Recent sampling suggests that short and broad. Such bugs are called “piglet bugs” it extends all the way into eastern Saskatchewan! because their tiny wings expose their very robust bodies, and they often have a short “snout” on the head. A preliminary analysis of this fauna generates oth- er surprising results. For example, the biodiversity (east vs. west, north vs. south, regional endemism “hot spot” on the Canadian Great Plains appears vs. migration from southern localities) can be deter- to be Elbow, Saskatchewan which is at the head mined easily. of Lake Diefenbaker behind the Gardiner and Qu- This synthesis is based on nine surveys across Appelle dams. the Canadian Great Plains that were made since I was a student and began collecting leafhoppers at Winnipeg in 1965. The initial work was greatly as- sisted by the catches from mosquito traps main- tained at the University of Manitoba and at Glenlea Research Station (Hamilton 1972). This work has been supplemented by studies on other northern grasslands since I first found a Aprairie@ leafhop- per on a heathland near Manitoulin Island, Ontario Laccocera (Delphacidae) are western insects with in 1975. brightly coloured males, but their females are ivory without obvious markings. What, exactly, is an endemic Aprairie@ bug? It is one that feeds only on a grassland-associated plant Short-horned bugs include a large number of species endemic to the Great Plains. The follow- ing account of the Canadian fauna is presented as a species list. An ongoing analysis of detailed bio- geographic patterns and their implications for un- derstanding the ecology of the Great Plains requires a great deal of analysis and will be published as sep- arate papers. The listing presented here gives an Bruchomorpha jocosa (Caliscelidae) is a distinctive overview by grouping the sites by latitude and lon- inhabitant of eastern prairies, one of many species gitude so that the most obvious distribution patterns that specialize on little bluestem. Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Number 10, 2004 18 19 or is rarely, if ever, taken far from a native prairie. The definition must be expanded somewhat to in- clude the insects feeding on plants that are large- ly associated with the prairies, but by virtue of their preference for moist habitats, find their way along water courses a considerable distance from the Great Plains (sandbar or Awolf@ willow and certain diminutive spike-rushes are good examples). Oliarus (Cixiidae) are externally rather undistinguished bugs, but they have perhaps the most elaborate male genitalia of any insect in the world. (MB), where the prairie is much more localized and fragmented, there are 6.7 sites per quadrat. The maximum number is 17 sites in quadrat 2 of south- western Manitoba (between 49oN 100oW and 50oN 101oW) which has been a favourite collecting area Peltonotellus bivittatus (Caliscelidae) is a specialist on for many entomologists. prairie muhly, a grass once common on undisturbed mixed-grass sites but now largely restricted to the This information is taken largely from material sides of coulees. in the Canadian National Collection of insects, supplemented by data from DeLong (1931), Doering Others that are not confined to the Great Plains (1940), Strickland (1953), Medler (1958), Nielson are found in areas that were probably once connect- (1965), Kramer (1967), and Hamilton (1972). The ed to the prairies, but as world temperatures declined results of this compilation indicate that there are over the last 7000 years have become isolated in for- at least 226 prairie-endemic Auchenorrhyncha, ested regions. They now inhabit sheltered valleys in of which 168 are leafhoppers (Cicadellidae), 47 the mountains as far north as the Yukon, or patches are planthoppers (Fulgoroidea), 7 are treehoppers of sandy soils in boreal forest, or limestone plains (Membracidae), 3 are cicadas (Cicadidae) and 1 is a (alvars) in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, and even spittlebug (Cercopidae). Almost all the planthoppers on saline or sandy areas of the Atlantic coast. are Delphacidae, but these are rare compared to the Caliscelidae or Apiglet bugs,@ with 6 species of Bruchomorpha plus one of Aphelonema and two of Peltonotellus, most of which are common and widespread on the plains. The remaining families of Fulgoroidea represented in the endemic fauna are Fulgoridae (or Dictyopharidae) with one species of Apartridge-bug@ Scolops, and Cixiidae with one species each in the genera Myndus and Oliarus. Peltonotellus rugosus (Caliscelidae) is a rare bug restricted to the driest situations. Scolops (Fulgoridae) This summary of what we now know about the are known as Auchenorrhynch fauna of the Canadian prairies is “partridge bugs” based on more than 340 sites (Table 1). Samples tak- because they sit en within a 5 km radius of each other are Alumped@ up with their beak- like head process to make data presentation simpler. These sites are in the air. then grouped according to one-degree quadrats (Fig. 1). In Alberta (AB) and Saskatchewan (SK) there are an average of 4-5 sites per quadrat; in Manitoba Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands Number 10, 2004 18 19 University of Kansas 41 (22), University of Kansas Science Bulletin 26 (2): 83-167. Kramer, J.P. 1967. A taxonomic study of the brachypterous North American leafhoppers of the genus Lonatura (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 93: 433-462. Amblysellus wyomus is a western species that feeds Medler, J.T. 1958. A review of the genus Scleroracus in on June grass; it looks quite unlike the other members North America (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Annals of its genus, which have longer heads and are grey of the Entomological Society of America 51:230- spotted with black. 241. The species are grouped roughly by over- Hamilton, K.G.A. 1972. The Manitoban fauna of all distribution. Fifty-five species are found wide- leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) Pt. II: ly across the Great Plains; 32 of these also occur in the fauna of macro-leafhoppers. The Canadian Entomologist 104: 1137-1148. other Canadian grasslands, either along the Atlantic coast, or in alvars and relict grasslands of Ontario Hamilton, K.G.A. 1999. Leafhoppers (Insecta: (ON), intermontane grasslands of British Columbia Homoptera: Cicadellidae) as indicators of endangered ecosystems. Pp. 103-113 in J. Loo (BC) and the Yukon Territories (YT), or in the Peace and M. Gorman (Comp.), Protected Areas and the River District of Alberta (Table 2). These wide- Bottom Line. Proceedings of the 1997 Conference spread insects are therefore characteristic of the of the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas, Northern Grasslands Biome. When these are known September 14-16, 1997, Fredericton, New only (or primarily) from the Canadian Great Plains, Brunswick. Canadian Forest Service. they are indicated as Aendemic.@ Nielson, M.W. 1965. A revision of the genus Cuerna (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). USDA Technical Commellus comma is a specialist on Bulletin 1318. Canada wild rye. It Strickland, E.H. 1953. An annotated list of the is common in the Hemiptera (s.l.) of Alberta. The Canadian USA but is found in Entomologist 85: 193-214. Canada only in the canyon of the South Acknowledgments Saskatchewan. This work has been greatly assisted by many pri- Species characteristic of only parts of the Great vate and governmental agencies, notably The Nature Conservancy, Manitoba and Ontario Ministries of Natural Plains can be divided into two biotic provinces, 34 Resources, Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Minnesota species characteristic of eastern grasslands or Atrue and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and Ohio prairie@ and 39 that are widespread on the western State University (for a complete list of participants, see The plains or ACanadian steppe@ (Table 3), with the Canadian Entomologist 132 July/August 2000, page 500). remaining species divided between 40 on moist Particular mention should be made of the following indi- steppe or Aaspen parkland@ and 58 on dry steppe viduals who helped by trapping thousands of prairie in- or Ashort-grass prairie@ (Table 4). The intervening sects on Canadian sites over an extended period: Albert area or Amixed grass prairie@ appears to have no Finnamore at the Alberta Provincial Museum, Edmonton; characteristic bugs.